After more than one month of
fighting and maneuvering through north Georgia, the Confederate Army of
Tennessee occupied a strong position along the Kennesaw Mountain Line in
mid-June 1864. While holding this area, General Joseph E.
Johnston, in planning for a possible future redeployment of his army,
entertained a design proposal from his Chief of Artillery, Brigadier General
Francis Shoup. Johnston approved Shoup's concept of constructing a series of
unconventional fortifications on the Cobb County side of the Chattahoochee
River. Michael K. Shaffer will discuss Shoup and his unique
line,
as
the armies met
along the river during the early days of July 1864.
Michael K. Shaffer is the Assistant Director
and Lecturer for
the Civil War Center at Kennesaw State University. He is a Civil War historian,
author, and newspaper columnist,
and a member
of the Society of Civil War Historians and the Georgia Association of
Historians. He serves as
a board member
with the
Civil War Round Table of Cobb County and the River Line Historic Area, and
assists the Friends of Camp McDonald as a Civil War consultant. Michael
holds BA
and MA degrees in Military History - Civil War Studies, and has delivered numerous
lectures on various aspects of the Civil War.
